Loading and unloading equipment of tiles or the like in baking plants

ABSTRACT

A plant to move boxes or equivalent containers for tiles or the like, which are to be baked and/or enamelled, and to load and unload such pieces on and from the boxes or equivalent containers. The plant includes: a boxing machine with transverse conveyors for tiles, spacing means for the same, thrust means for the simultaneous boxing of the tiles in two or more boxes and lifting means for the boxes (or similar containers). A conveyor feeds two or more empty boxes to the boxing machine. A hanging conveyor moves the full boxes away from the boxing machine and forwards them to a furnace. The plant also includes an unboxing or box withdrawing machine with transverse conveyors for the picking up of the tiles, thrust means for the simultaneous withdrawal of tiles from two or more boxes or the like and vertical movement means for the boxes. A hanging conveyor sends the boxes coming from the furnace to the boxing equipment. A horizontal conveyor is provided to receive from the box extraction machine the empty boxes, and to accumulate and supply the boxing machine with the same.

United States Patent 1191 Gabbrielli 14 1 Oct. 2, 1973 LOADING ANDUNLOADING EQUIPMENT 0F TILES OR THE LIKE IN BAKING PLANTS [76] Inventor:Guglielmo Gabbrielli, Viale G. B.

. Morgagni ll, Firenze, Italy [22] Filed: July 19, 1972 [21] Appl. No.1273,269

[52] US. Cl. 214/l6.4 R, 2l4/3l0 Primary Examiner- Robert G sheridanAssistant Exqmirzer- -R. B. Johnson Attorney-Eric H. Waters et al.

57 1 ABSTRACT A plant to move boxes or equivalentcontainers for tiles orthe like, which are to be baked and/or enamelled, and to load and unloadsuch pieces on and from the boxes or equivalent containers. The plantincludes: a

boxing machine with transverse conveyors for tiles,

spacing means for the same, thrust means for the simultaneous boxing ofthe tiles in two or more boxes and lifting means for the boxes (orsimilar containers). A conveyor feeds two or more empty boxes to theboxing machine. A hanging conveyor moves the full boxes away from theboxing machine and forwards them to a furnace. The plant also includesan unboxing or box withdrawing machine with transverse conveyors for thepicking up of the tiles, thrust means for the simultaneous withdrawal oftiles from two or more boxes or the like and vertical movement means forthe boxes. A hanging conveyor sends the boxes coming from the furnace tothe boxing equipment. A horizontal conveyor is provided to receive fromthe box extraction machine boxing machine with the same.

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BJQZJSBI LOADING AND UNLOADING EQUIPMENT OF TILES OR THE LIKE IN BAKINGPLANTS FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to apparatus formoving boxes or equivalent containers for pieces, such as tiles or thelike which are to be baked and/or enamelled, and for loading orunloading said pieces on or from boxes or equivalent containers.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION According to the invention, the apparatus mayinclude a boxing machine with transverse conveyors for tiles, spacingmeans for the same, thrust means for the simultaneous boxing of tiles intwo or more boxes and lifting means for the boxes (or similarcontainers); a feeding conveyor for feeding one or more empty boxes tothe boxing machine; and a hanging conveyor for the moving away of fullboxes from the boxing machine. The apparatus may further include ahorizontal conveyor for the full boxes and a means for starting the sametowards a furnace; an unboxing or box withdrawing machine withtransverse conveyors for the picking up of the tiles, thrust means forthe simultaneous withdrawal of tiles from two or more boxes and verticalmovement means for the boxes. Also included may be a hanging conveyor tosend boxes coming from the furnace to the boxing equipment, andconveying means for conveying the emptied boxes to said hanging conveyoror to a receiver for the boxes.

An object of the invention, thus, is to provide for improved means formoving of containers, for instance, containing a plurality of tiles orother such articles, evenually to be provided with an enamel layertowards and away from a baking furnace.

Said operation is completely automatized and begins with theintroduction of biscuit tiles with or without enamel, or raw ties withor without enamel thereon, into the boxing machine. Then, simultaneousinsertion into two or more boxes follows and then follows transfer bymeans of a hanging conveyor to a carriage or other conveying means forforwarding of the tiles towards the furnace.

After the baking, movement is resumed on the opposite side of theassembly or unit with the introduction of two boxes or the like into aboxing extraction or unboxing machine, after treatment in the furnacehas taken place. The movement of the first hanging conveyor to thefurnace and the return from the furnace can be obtained with operationalcarriages or.with other conveying means. Provision can be made for theintroduction of two boxes or cells containing the baked tiles, by meansof a similar hanging conveyor, into the box extraction machine,"effecting a reversed cycle (that is, the box extractionand removal ofthe finished product from the machine). The empty boxes, by means of achain or belt conveyor or the like connecting the two boxing and boxextraction machines, are then returned to the boxing machine. The latterconveyor is operated by the boxing machine.

The movements of the several members of the unit may be mechanical,pneumatic or hydraulic, actuated by cams or by simple microswitches orbistables devices upon the determination of a program. The movements ofthe single machines or conveyors are independent of one another and onemachine may work while the others may be momentarily inactive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING The invention will be better understoodfrom the following specification and the accompanying drawings, whichillustrates a non-limitative embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing:

FIGS. 1 and 2 diagrammatically illustrate a lateral view and a plan viewof the unit;

FIG. 3 illustrates a diagrammatic section of the unit, showing boxmotion, taken along line III--III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the boxing machine, taken along line IV-IV ofFIG. 3, on the entrance conveyor side;

FIG. 5 is a lateral section taken along line V-V of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a plan view taken along line VI-VI of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the boxing machine taken on the side of thecontrol panel, along line VII-VII of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a section of the tiles positioning plane taken along lineVIII-VIII of FIG. 5;

.sociated row of tiles already covered by enamel to be baked, inposition for boxing;

FIGS. 12, 13 and 14 are details according to the section XIIXII of FIG.8, which illustrate respectively the feeding of loose tiles on movingbelts, the lifting of the tiles positioning plane, and a. tile beingurged towards the box;

FIG. 15 is a vertical section of the box extraction machine along thelongitudinal axis of the assembly;

FIG. 16 shows a detail in cross-sectional view taken along line XVIXVIof FIG. 18;

FIG. 17 is a plan view taken along line XVII-XVII of FIG. 15;

FIG. 18 is a horizontal section taken XVIIIXVIII of FIG. 15;

FIG. 19 is a front view of the box extraction machine" on the side ofthe control panel, taken along line XIX-XIX of FIG. 15;

FIG. 20 is a front view of the box extraction machine on the conveyorsside, taken along line XX-XX of FIG. 15; 7

FIGS. 21 and'22 are views of the supporting bridge for the hangingconveyor for the boxes, on the side of the boxing machine and on theside of the box extraction machine, respectively;

FIG. 23 is a side view of the boxes conveying hanging along linecarriage;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The machine of the assembly which begins thehandling cycle of the tiles in the biscuit or raw state, with

1. Apparatus for moving boxes or the like having vertically spacedreceptacles for pieces such as tiles or the like, to be baked and/orenamelled and to load and unload said pieces in and from boxes, saidapparatus comprising a boxing machine including tile transverseconveyors, tile spacing means cooperating with said conveyors, thrustmeans for the simultaneous boxing of the tiles in at least two boxes andlifting means for lifting the box to make the receptacles sequentiallyavailable; a feed conveyor for conveying at least two empty boxes to theboxing machine; a hanging conveyor for moving away filled boxes from theboxing machine, a horizontal conveyor for filled boxes, and means forstarting the latter towards the furnace; a box extraction unit includingtransverse conveyors for the picking up of tiles, thrust means for thesimultaneous extraction of tiles from the boxes and vertical movementmeans for the boxes to permit the sequential extraction of tiles fromthe receptacles; a hanging conveyor to forward boxes coming from thefurnace to the extraction unit; and transfer means for transferring ofthe emptied boxes to the latter said conveyor.
 2. Apparatus as claimedin claim 1 wherein the boxing machine includes: a quick transverseconveyor to space the tiles; feelers which signal the presence of a tileagainst a positioning stop, and operate respective front stops; filtingplanes for lifting tiles from the level of the lateral conveyor to thelevel of an empty seat in a box and resilient pushers for the liftedtiles including a cam return, to obtain the transfer of the tiles to theboxes while said planes are lowered.
 3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2comprising a system including a lever, a spring and a cam, the springpressing the lever against the cam, the cam determining the returnstroke and the spring the active stroke; said spring yielding in case ofresistance to the movement of the tiles; and a microswitch on the leverto determine the stopping of the machine with the moving away of thelever from the cam.
 4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein theboxing unit includes chain means for the simultaneous lifting of atleast two boxes, angles and retaining lateral pressing members on thechain means, resting means for the boxes to assure stability during theboxing operations, said resting means including movable vertical rods toallow the advance of the boxes on the chains and to reach the restingposition.
 5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the boxing machineincludes fluid thrust means to transfer the boxes to a pick up bracket.6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 wherein the boxing unit includescontrol means for lifting the boxes, and means connected to the chainlifting means and including a perforated disc cam and a cooperatingphotocell to control the stopping of the boxes at different levels. 7.Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the extraction unit includeStransverse belt conveyors and lowerable planes associated with thelatter and adapted to receive extracted tiles and lay them on saidtransverse conveyors and extraction resilient pushers including a camcontrol for return.
 8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein thepushers are actuated by a system including a lever, a spring, and a cam,the spring pushing the lever against said cam, the cam determining thereturn stroke and the spring the active stroke; said spring yielding incase of resistance to movement of the tiles; and a microswitch on thelever to control stopping of the extraction unit with the moving away ofthe lever from the cam.
 9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein theextraction unit includes a tile lowering system provided with analternate motion and including chains bearing a resting frame; saidlowering system being adapted to receive boxes from the latter saidhanging conveyor, to center and lay the same on the tiles conveyor forthe forwarding to the boxing unit.
 10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9wherein the box extraction unit includes intermittent lowering controlmeans, including a cam and perforated disc system and a cooperatingphotocell connected to the lowering system to control the stopping ofthe boxes at the different levels.
 11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10wherein the box extraction unit includes a movalbe resting and contrastsystem to avoid movements of a box during an extraction operation. 12.Apparatus as claimed in claim 8 wherein the latter said hanging conveyorincludes a hanging carriage structure, lowering and lifting means, apick up structure connected to said hanging carriage structure by saidlowering and lifting means, bars, and bars pick up means angularlymovable to engage the boxes; and feeler means for signalling for thestopping and movement of the bars.
 13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12wherein the latter said hanging conveyor includes control stops forspeed reduction and the stopping of the pick up structure, stoppingmeans for the carriage and means to adjust the transfer speed anddetermine the stopping of the carriage in different positions for thesubsequent movement of a plurality of boxes.
 14. Apparatus as claimed inclaim 13 comprising parallel hanging conveyors to pick up and returnboxes orthogonally to the boxing and extraction direction, and parallelto the movements of the tiles upon arrival and in exit of the latter;and wherein the conveyor of empty boxes is oriented in alignment withthe boxing and extraction directions; the hanging conveyors unloadingand picking up carriages movable orthogonally thereto.